How to Work with a Bookkeeper

It’s important to have up-to-date bookkeeping records in your business. But if you are directly responsible for updating your books, it can be hard to keep your records updated, since you need to be focused on running your business day-to-day. In today’s episode, Bernard Roesch will explain how to go about working with a bookkeeper successfully.

The Challenge of Delegating Bookkeeping

Typically, there are two main reasons preventing a business owner from effectively delegating the bookkeeping process.

First, you need to have clear access to the resources that a bookkeeper would need. For example, bank account statements, credit card records etc. Second, the business owner needs to provide access to these resources in a way that doesn’t risk the business financially. For example, providing read only access to a bank account or some other lower level permission.

Once you have clear resources to use to understand bookkeeping data, and you’re able to provide that access to somebody else, you can hire a bookkeeper to help you.

Setting Up a Bookkeeping Process

Typically, before a bookkeeper begins working with you, you will already have accounting software set up and a basic process in place. Ideally, that should be set up by a professional, or at least reviewed by a professional as part of starting work with a bookkeeper. This will make the start up process of working with a bookkeeper easier.

Once you have the accounting software ready to go, you can do an initial orientation with the bookkeeper you hire. This orientation should cover how to get the key bookkeeping resources they need, your bookkeeping preferences, and an overview of the workflow you’d prefer with them. At that point, the bookkeeper should be able to take over updating your books.

The Ongoing Bookkeeping Process

After the initial set up process, you should get into a set routine with your bookkeeper, set the time frame of when the bookkeeper works and have their resources ready at that time. The bookkeeper will then enter the data using those resources and produce a series of reports for you to review. It’s important that you have pre-defined reports for the bookkeeper to produce, so that your review is part of the routine.

Need Help Delegating Bookkeeping?

If you need help getting set up with a bookkeeper so that you can simply review bookkeeping reports and make financial decisions, contact Bernard today. He has been able to help many business owners overcome the challenge of streamlining their accounting and bookkeeping process and can help you as well.

About Bernard Roesch

Bernard Roesch is co-founder and Managing Partner of MISSION. Bernard’s background in the early years of his career was spent in the manufacturing sector, making his QuickBooks perspective a unique one – he understands the intricacies of a complex environment and then applies his strategic skills accordingly.